Although tens of thousands of liters of water float in the air, it is difficult for humans to extract it. Now the research team from the University of California, Berkeley has successfully developed a solar-powered device that can extract humans in thin air. Drinking water, and has been successfully tested in the Arizona desert.
Although this is not the first device to attempt to extract moisture from the air, Berkeley's equipment looks more practical than Warka Water and is more mature than the existing systems on the Water Abundance XPrize list. It is a metal-organic framework (MOF). This compound is well known for its extremely high surface area. For example, the MOF of the sugar cube size can theoretically reach the area of 6 football fields, so these materials are very suitable for capturing and storing water molecules from the air. .
The team used a zirconium-based MOF-801 material to capture moisture, collect moisture through a 2 square foot (0.19 square meter) surface area, and obtain moisture from the air in 24 hours with a simple condensation. The research team also tried to use it. The MOF based on aluminum is not only 150 times cheaper, but also captures more than 2 times the water. The future version of the device, 1Kg of MOF, can capture 400ml (1.5 cups) of water per day.
